1988 Bluefin Sportsman 1700 Restoration

[msnyder2000]

I began this restoration last July after finding this boat on Craigslist. It was advertised as a 1988 Mercury Outboard For Sale... boat and trailer included for free. I was able to negotiate a deal for $500. As a kid I spent my summers boating and fishing in northern Minnesota with my grandparents. It was then I was exposed to the deep-V style aluminum fishing boat. I grew to prefer them over the river style jon boats in my home state of Mo on the Mississippi and surrounding lakes. We spend some time at the lake of the ozarks so I like the fact these boats make solid rough water boats.
The transom was rotten and the floor boards had turned to mulch. I spent 3 long days gutting the interior and took out 300lbs of water logged foam. More to come.

 

[msnyder2000]

Re: 1988 Bluefin Sportsman 1700 Restoration

The clean out begins. Note grass growing from the floorboards. The PO let the boat sit out in a field.

 

[lokonn]

Re: 1988 Bluefin Sportsman 1700 Restoration

Welcome to the drydock! You prolly already know there are a bunch of helpful people here with a wealth of knowledge and they are all willing to help if asked. Welcome aboard and looking forward to following along.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1988 Bluefin Sportsman 1700 Restoration

It looks like the PO re-decked the boat by dropping a 4X8 sheet of ply OVER the existing deck & bolting the pedestals to it:

So please post up some pix of the boat torn down. That ^^^ is a whole lot of ugly.

Good luck w/ your project, and welcome to Iboats dry dock, tin division

Several BlueFins are being rehab'd currently, and LOTS of great tin boat building going on, particularly Starcrafts. But the riveted tin boats are all put together similarly

And yep, you'll get a great deal of help along the way.